Frenship’s junior quarterback had carried the ball just 32 times on the season — mostly on scrambles out of the pocket or sacks — and had less than a 2.0 yards-per-carry average coming into Friday’s District 4-4A showdown with Monterey.

But with the Plainsmen keying on Tigers tailback D’Maujeric Tucker, Frenship head coach Brad Davis noticed the seldom-used quarterback trap play was open, and the first time he called it, Lloyd converted it into a game-clinching touchdown.

Lloyd ran 75 yards for the score for a two-touchdown lead, and the Tigers went on to down the Plainsmen 29-10 at Lowrey Field.

“He hadn’t called my number all year to run the ball,” said Lloyd, who finished with 87 rushing yards on nine carries and had a 34-yard touchdown run called back by a penalty.

“He called it and I was like, ‘Whoa, what’s going on coach?’ We work on it all the time in practice and never call it in games. I faked it to D’Maujeric and the nose tackle bit and there was just this huge hole.”

Even though Tucker, who rushed for 222 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries, added a late touchdown, it was Lloyd’s score that put the game away thanks to a shutdown effort from the Tigers’ defense, which has not allowed an opponent to score an offensive touchdown in two district games.

Frenship (6-1, 2-0) held the Plainsmen to 147 rushing yards and 240 total yards. Monterey’s only touchdown of the game came on a 69-yard Daniel Lopez interception return, and the Tigers forced a field goal by the Plainsmen after stopping them on third-and-goal from the 3-yard line clinging to an eight-point lead less than a minute into the fourth quarter.

“That was the difference in the game, I thought,” head coach Brad Davis said. “We played adequate the first half, especially offensively, and our defense played great the whole game.

“When somebody gets within a touchdown or less on us our defense has been great on keeping them out of the end zone ,and they were great again tonight.”

Two plays after that goalline stand, when Monterey settled for a 17-yard Davis Williamson field goal to cut the Frenship lead to 15-10, Tucker erased any hope the Plainsmen had of rallying for the score on his 75-yard scoring keeper, even though there were still more than 10 minutes left in the game.

Monterey’s final three drives ended on a punt, a Will Wyatt interception and a turnover on downs after the Plainsmen had first-and-10 from the 11.

“We looked really good tonight,” Wyatt said. “Our secondary stepped it up tonight but we really stopped the run like we’re capable of doing. We made some adjustments at halftime to slow down the run.”

Until then, however, the Plainsmen had opportunities where they moved the football.

Travon Benton finished with 107 rushing yards on 19 carries, but the Tigers didn’t let quarterback Jacob Bartholomae get loose as a compliment, limiting him to 31 yards on nine carries and 93 yards on 9-of-20 passing with one interception.

“Not consistent enough, at least on offense anyway,” Monterey head coach Todd Pearson said. “We’ve got some things we still need to work on, but I’ll tell you what, that’s the best defensive front we’ve faced all year long, without a doubt. They put pressure on us and held us down for most of the game.

“They got us when they needed to and we weren’t able to put consistent drives together.”

Frenship scored touchdowns on its first two drives of the game, a 1-yard Bryndan Arredondo plunge and an 8-yard Tucker scamper around left end. Monterey, meanwhile, watched as its first four drives ended in punts.

Still, when Lopez took Lloyd’s tipped pass back the other way for the score to cut it to 12-7 with 1:59 left in the half, then stopped the Tigers’ ensuing drive, it looked like Monterey had the momentum coming out for the second half. The Plainsmen forced two punts and an interception on the Tigers’ final three drives of the first half.

Frenship took the second-half kickoff and behind six straight runs by Tucker reached the Monterey 15 before having to settle for a Josh Sparkman field goal. The Tigers were stopped on their next drive, and a 37-yard option run by Benton had the Plainsmen inside the Frenship 20.

An offside call on the Tigers on fourth-and-inches put the ball at the Frenship 4, but three plays netted just 3 yards, forcing Monterey to kick the field goal.

From that point on, the Tigers were in control as Lloyd iced it with his touchdown, forcing Monterey to abandon its running game in an attempt to catch up in a hurry.

“We were able to take them about of their game and make them trow the ball, and we were able again to get the ball moving on the ground to run out a lot of the clock in the fourth just because of the adjustments we made at half,” Davis said.